Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support she is providing to local authorities to help them tackle loneliness and isolation amongst people who are elderly and experiencing financial poverty.

The Local Government Finance Settlement 2022/23 gives councils access to the resources that they need. It makes available £54.1 billion in 2022/23 for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22. The most relatively deprived areas of England (the upper decile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation) will receive 14% more per dwelling in available resource through this year’s settlement than the least deprived areas. The majority of this funding is unringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities, such as tackling loneliness.

The Government also remains committed to working across government departments and across society to tackle loneliness, including amongst older people and those experiencing financial poverty.

We are supporting organisations at both a national and local level to take action on loneliness through our Tackling Loneliness Hub. The Hub is a digital space for Network members to connect, share, and learn from each other. The Hub has supported Network members through a series of blog posts, events, and seminars to provide spaces for discussion and collaboration, including a space specifically for local authorities to share and learn from best practice examples to tackle loneliness.

Since 2018, the government and its partners have invested almost £50 million in tackling loneliness, which has included supporting projects helping older people and those experiencing financial poverty to connect.

We are also continuing to work across government departments to tackle loneliness. This includes working with NHS England and NHS Improvement as they continue to expand provision of social prescribing, which can help to connect people who are lonely to support in their community.

The Government plays a role in tackling loneliness across society by reducing the stigma associated with loneliness, building the evidence base, and supporting other organisations to play their part. We publish a report on our work on loneliness every year. The latest was published in February 2022. A copy of this report will be placed in the Libraries of the House and is available online here.